Sunday, February 1, 2015

Rory Roars His Charges to Opening League Win

So here we go again - after the shadow boxing of the McKenna
Cup, the football fare moved up a notch this weekend with competitive action
getting underway beneath the lights of MacCumhaill Park. A local derby led to a
bumper crowd coming through the turnstiles and the cracking atmosphere made for
a fantastic’s night entertainment.

It'’s certainly a great boost getting off to a winning start and
Rory Gallagher will be fairly pleased with how his new charges performed.
Donegal’s recent Division One campaigns have been stop-start by their nature, culminating
in two final day shoot outs – one going our way in 2012, the other resulting in
relegation from the top tier the following year. A more consistent run this
time around with no demotion threat would be on the new manager's wishlist.

There was a feeling of new era about last night with Rory
donning his florescent Bainisiteoir bib although we were all transported into
the past and back to last September after only a few minutes with Paul Durcan’s
very first kick-out going straight to the opposition full forward. Thankfully
there was no resulting goal but the collective intake of breath around the
ground was one we could have done without. Durcan tried another short kick to
Mark McHugh and both Rory and his assistant Jack Cooney went onto the field to
speak to the big Four Masters netminder – we’re going long.

Gallagher could be heard shouting ‘tight field’ to his wing
backs and wing forwards as Durcan stood over his restarts; the idea being that
they are to stay narrow and leave space on the wings before making what they
will hope will be an unopposed run towards the ball.

That wasn’t the only shout coming from the Donegal touchline
and anyone who hadn’t seen the Belleek native’s management style in action up
until now were given the full treatment last night. He is constantly onto his
players, both encouraging and chastising but always wanting more. Gallagher has
a presence about him on the sideline and appears to be totally focused on whats
in front of him and very confident in his own abilities – a fascinating
character to observe.

Donegal’s performance initially was patchy to say the least,
looking sluggish and lethargic in the second quarter. Whether there was a method
to the madness it’s hard to know but Donegal were setup very conservatively in
the first half and didn’t run at the Oakleaf defence too often. Patrick McBrearty
was the lone attacker with Michael Murphy stationed at midfield. Hugh McFadden
was a late change to the named line-up and he was perched between the full back
line and midfield and carried a huge amount of ball in the opening period. A
comfortable footballer with plenty of ability, the Kilybegs man doesn’t yet have
the raw power in his legs and with Odhran MacNiallais struggling somewhat to
get into the game in the first half, Donegal were stuck in second gear for
spells.

Derry on the other hand ran incessantly at their opponents’
rearguard and got plenty of joy in taking scores and drawing frees, with Mark
Lynch punishing any misdemeanours. The visitors were deservedly in front at the
change of ends and it was going to need a response from Donegal after the break
to turn around a three-point deficit.

The response duly came and the catalyst was Martin
McElhinney; on his introduction he reduced the deficit almost immediately with
a well taken point but it was his overall directness and the injection of pace he provided,
in contrast to McFadden’s calm and languid style that turned the tide his team’s
way. His Creeslough colleague in midfield, Christy Toye, came into the game much
more and with MacNiallais and Neil Gallagher getting through trojan work around
the middle, Donegal moved through the gears.

Perhaps, similarly to last year’s championship, that will be
the template; get parity or close to it around the middle sector to begin with before
unleashing fresh runners in the second half and consequently redeploying Murphy
to the edge of the square. Derry’s first half performance helped the script as
they put so much effort in they appeared to have little left in the tank for
the final quarter.

With Derry on the rack and Donegal hitting the front, a goal
would have ended the contest; the opportunity arrived with Murphy being tugged back by Niall Holly in the box. We were again brought back to a past All Ireland disappointment
as Michael’s kick thundered off the crossbar, just like in Breffni Park almost
five years ago. He followed that misfortune up with another a minute later, as
an attempt at a point came back off the upright and you started to wonder if it
was going to be one of those nights. The penalty was soft to a certain extent
so maybe it was poetic justice although any logical thinking regards referring decisions has to be tempered with the fact that the man in
the middle was our old friend from Sligo, Mr Marty Duffy.

It was time for MacNiallais to put his mark on proceedings
and when he was put in the clear by Toye he fired the ball
low into the net, a strike that had a fair bit of frustration behind it. That
made up for the spot kick miss and from then on Donegal hit for home. Despite an
opening or two for Brian McIver’s side, they were unable to get within striking
distance and scores from Martin Reilly and McBrearty put a seal on a hugely
impressive second half display.

McBrearty took home the man of the match award from Setanta
television and it could, indeed should, be the start of a big year for the
Kilcar man. Having been a teenage prodigy for so long, the time has come for
Patrick to become one of Donegal’s main men. He has all the ability and while
he is already a highly rated inter-county performer, he can get to another
level. Some of his finishing last night was out of the top drawer while his
ball-winning was excellent.

The fine scores from distance that McBrearty, Reilly and
Toye registered showed that Donegal are well able to score from distance but it
is still a source of frustration for many that the team remains a bit shot-shy
at times and this has been the case for a number of years. We’re used to seeing
patient build-up with an emphasis on waiting for the right opportunity but at times
last night players just had a go when they found a yard of space and the
results was some wonderful point taking – let’s hope we see more of that.

Whenever a new manager comes in, those players that were previously
on the fringes often stake a claim for a more central role. Martin Reilly is a
case in point and he did his chances no harm with an excellent shift of work
last night and capped his display with two points from play. Reilly and late substitute
Darach O’Connor are fast, nippy alternatives in the full forward line compared
to the brute ball-winning power of McBrearty, Murphy and Colm McFadden; it will be
interesting to see how Rory assimilates his forward line over the coming league
games.

Next up its The Dubs and a first return to Headquarters since
that day of devastation in September. Our last meeting with the cosmopolitans
of course brings to mind much more joyous memories and despite a defeat to Cork
today, expect a tough battle this coming Saturday night. Dublin will surely include
some more of their front line players than what took the field at Pairc Ui Rinn
this afternoon and it has all the makings of another exciting encounter.